Tag: read

I’m a huge fan of reading. In fact, I receive questions from readers often asking for recommendations. Each week I’ll have a post dedicated to what I’m reading. Sometimes it’s books about etiquette. Sometimes it’s fictions. Currently, it’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: a Savannah Story. I’ve read this before, but, like most books, I find myself almost homesick for the places and people. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, though, is different because it’s non-fiction, meaning that the people and places are real. I can’t express how much I want to go to Savannah, Georgia and meet some of the characters. There’s not a perfect soul among them, but it’s often the imperfections we fall in love with.

My kids, thankfully, also love to read. Well, my son, who is four, loves being read to. My daughter, who is in kindergarten, has started reading fairly well on her own. From the time I was pregnant, we’d read stories to them. The first book I vividly remember reading to my pregnant belly was a Berenstain Bears book, a childhood favorite of my own.

Each Thursday we go as a family to our local library to find new treasures.

We’re very fortunate to have a phenomenal librarian and library staff. Each employee is wonderful with kids and adults and offer fantastic suggestions. The Berenstain Bears continue to be a favorite of both of my kids. However, as they’ve aged, they’ve added new favorites, as well. My daughter loves everything My Little Pony. My son tends to favor Paw Patrol. We’ve read Ramona Quimby books (one of my top picks as a kid), the Pinkalicious series and lots of others, well.

Even as a child I knew the power a book held. It allowed you to travel to places that don’t actually exist. You were able to see from the viewpoint of people who lives hundreds of years ago or who lived in different parts of the world. I remember lying on my bed looking at the back of my Berenstain Bears books thinking of which one I wished I had. I had two favorites in particular.

By now y’all likely know of my love of holidays, so I doubt it comes as much of a surprise that one of my favorites was The Berenstain Bears and the Prize Pumpkin. It tells of the meaning behind Thanksgiving and how we sometimes forget to be grateful for the little things in life.

To this day, I get giddy when my kids and I curl up to read this book. It had the most beautiful cover, and I remember empathisizing strongly with Sister Bear. No matter what issue the Bear family faced, everything was always put back together by the end, which I appreciated as a child.

I strongly feel that reading grows our empathy and helps us to be a better person and citizen. We see the world from a different perspective, and we learn that our way isn’t the only way. I look forward to sharing what I’m reading with y’all, as well as some reading goals I’ve set for myself! I hope you’ll share with me, too!

What books are you reading right now? I always love suggestions!

{This post contains affiliate links, and we wil receive compensation for purchases made through the links.}

{This post contains affiliate links, and we will receive compensation for purchases made through the links.}

I’m often asked which etiquette book is my favorite. To be 100% honest, most from the 1920s-1950s hit the nail on the head, in my opinion. I love The Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette, 50th Anniversay Edition. This is not the exact one that I have. Mine is much older, but from what I’ve reasearched, a lot of the “older” etiquette remains in this 50th anniversary addition. I feel like Ms. Vandernbilt went into great depth explaining various rules of etiquette. She not only explained the basics – she covered it all.

Another favorite is Emily Post’s Etiquette, 19th Edition: Manners for Today (Emily’s Post’s Etiquette). Now, this is one I’ve really noticed changes in over time. The writers of Emily Post Etiquette have relaxed a lot of the rules, which, being fairly traditional, I don’t love. Overall, though, the bones hold true, and it’s an easily understood etiquette book, which I feel is important. Should etiquette change? Absolutely. I just feel that some of the guidance is a little too casual for certain circumstances and enjoy a sense of formality many seem to miss in the world?

I really enjoy studying how etiquette books have changed and evolved over time. I always teach that etiquette is the culmination of cultural and societal norms. I’ve never seen a more accurate example than that of etiquette books and how they evolve over time. I hope this post helps you find the etiquette book that is best for you! Thank you for reading!

Sorry for the hiatus! I just returned from a trip to South Carolina with our dear friends, where I made sure to mind my etiquette manners. 😉 We stayed at an interval our friend’s parents have at the beach, and on the last night we were there, we made her mom a meal (her dad was not there). I would COMPLETELY recommend this in place of a hostess gift when staying with someone, particularly since in this case, they live at the house only eight weeks a year, with other families living there the remaining 44 weeks. Additionally, we flew, and our friend’s mom drove there, so space was limited. A thank you note will still follow our visit.

While there, we took in some of the historical side of the town (my favorite part of any place), as well as some fun shopping. One place, The Christmas Mouse, supplied all of our 2015 Christmas ornaments. We were about to decide to return to the beach house, when my friend made the call to go ahead and go inside the general store. I’m SO glad we did. I bought four books for my kids and three for myself. 🙂 Being that this blog is still very new, I’m trying new things to bring interest to this site. All three books are etiquette and South-related. My first I hope to use for a few different posts. It is “What Southern Women Know (That Every Woman Should)” by Ronda Rich. I’m incredibly excited about this one. My other books are “Sue Ellen’s Girl Ain’t Fat, She Just Weighs Heavy” and “Suck In Your Stomach And Put Some Color On” both by Shellie Rushing Tomlinson. These two are for the feisty etiquette lovers!

All of the kids books were South and beach books. The Southern Mother Goose has several Texas poems, which my daughter already loves! Do you have any etiquette books you love?